In a recent thread where I posted some bucktail patterns, I included a bucktail version of a fly my grandfather used to call a “P-Beau”. This was short for a “Parmachene Beau”.
Now, I don’t have a clear memory of what the P-Beau looked like. It was the mate of the “P-Belle”, which was the Parmachene Belle tied in the usual way. My recollection of the P-Beau was that it was “more red” than the P-Belle.
When I search for the P-Beau on the net, what I find is fly which is more or less a P-Belle with peacock herl but and junglecock eyes; a more fancy P-Belle, but not “more red”. The patterns on the web that I’ve found are not the fly of my Grandfather, despite the same name.
I thought the wing was a married wing, mostly red with a white stripe down the middle (the reverse colour of the P-Belle). I thought the body was silver, but it could have been white floss (rather htan the P-Belle’s yellow body). All of this was pretty dim memory, so I e-mailed my older brother. He used to tie some flies for Pup, so I hoped his memory would be clearer.
John suggested that the P-Beau was basically a P-Belle, but with a red body (hence my memory of it being “more red”). I’ve tied one up, and here it is. It’s not the P-Beau pattern from the web, but some sites do indicate that there are a few variations of the P-Beau listed in books. Has anyone seen one like this before? Especially keen to hear from those from Nova Scotia as they may be familear with this variation.
Body - Pale Yellow Floss
Rib - Silver tinsel
Tip - Black Ostrich herl
Tail - White and scarlet
Hackle - Mixed scarlet and white
Wing - White with scarlet stripe, Jungle eye.
P-Belle Bergman
P-Belle Orvis
In the Orvis book -
“A fly called the Parmacheene Beau has lately appeared. It is practically the same
as the Parmacheene Belle, with the addition of jungle-cock feathers as shoulders,
and is an infringement on the former pattern and name. We feel sure Mr Wells is not
responsible for this latter device.”
Actually there is a differance in the Parmachene Belle and the Parmachene Beau. The Belle is tyed with bright yellow wool or bright yellow floss the kind that is used to tye a Yellow Sally. The Beau calls for a body of dull yellow floss. The Beau also calls for the Jungle Cock in the wings as the photos that Donald provided. Other than those two distinctions there is no other differance. Now the Parmachene Belle is one of my favorite wet flies to tye. I think this is just a simply beautiful fly tht catches Brooke Trout. This fly was used in Maine on Lake Parmachene. The fly was ssuppose to imitate a Brook Trout’s Fin. Please see the thread below that will show you this beautiful fly that I tied. http://www.njflyfishing.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php?product=71&sort=2&cat=9&page=1
The fly in the picture that you showed is close to a Split Ibis.
Thanks Everyone. It appears, based upon the web and books, that the official P-Beau is the P-Belle with a few additional fancy bits, and perhaps a duller yellow for the body. The P-Belle is one of my favorite flies, and I’ve taken a fair number of rainbows on it here in NZ. This sparked my childhood memories of Pup’s “P-Beau”. Unfortunately, my memories of the pattern are not all that clear, but I do know the fly he called the “P-Beau” was not the official version.
My grandfather didn’t tie flies, and I don’t ever recall him mentioning any friends of his that did, so he would have bought these flies from somewhere in Pictou County.
This leads me to one of two possible conclusions (apart from a completely faulty memory, which is not inconceivable!)
The “red-bodied P-Belle” was a local variation sold under the name of P-Beau, but it probably should have been called something else
My Grandfather had heard of a fly called the P-Beau and used this name to refer to the “red-bodied P-Belle” instead of what it was sold under (perhaps it was sold as a Split Ibis, as Fontinalis has suggested? Thanks for that suggestion)
As an aside, my brother recalls the wings tied as in the Orvis P-Belle (white with red trim along the top), but I recall them tied as in the Bergman P-Belle. I have some of my brother’s flies, which he tied back then, and it appears he tied them both ways, so we’re both right! Unfortunately, I have some P-Belles he tied, but no examples of the “Pup’s P-Beau”.
The Parmachene Belle was created by an American who lived in Brooklyn NY. This gentleman?s name was Henry Parkhurst Wells. H.P Wells was a lawyer and also a writer. Mr. Wells had written Fly Rods & Fly Tackle in 1885, The American Salmon Fisherman in 1886 and lastly City Boys in the Woods 1890. Two beliefs on the time frame that this fly was created are one by European historian Courtney Williams who believes that the fly was created in 1880 and two by an American historian J. Edson Leonard who stated the fly was created around the 1885 time frame. More recent evidence shows that this fly was created around the early1870’s. The fly was fished on lake Parmachenee in Maine were H.P. Wells used to camp at a site called Camp Caribou.
The Parmachenee Belle wet fly like the Fontinalis Fin, Trout Fin, Brookie Fin, Ibis and White were truly meant to be imitations of Trout fins. Back in the days of old bait fishermen would run out of bait and they would clip off the Brook Trout’s fins or a Rainbow or Brown trout’s fin and place it on a hook and use it as bait. Trout would take these fins willingly. Now the Parmachene Belle when created by H.P. Wells did not know what this imitated but knew that Trout found this fly to be very tempting.
In my day and age the Parmachene Belle is a great Trout catcher in the state of Main on lakes and streams. In NJ, NY, PA I find this fly to work on a few different times. One, when no insect life is happening, two: when the water is high and off colored and three: on fast moving streams. I fish this fly on a size 6 hook on a 3X tippet on a Cortland Clear Intermediate sinking line. I have had a request by Dennis if I would explain how to marry wings. I will come back shortly and provide the pattern and tell how I tied this fly.
I could not have written this brief history on this fly with out the Aid of T. Donald Overfield?s book 50 Favorite Wet Flies, Mary Orvis Marbury?s book Favorite Flies and Their Histories. The fly tied shown on this web site was tied by Andy Brasko using Ray Bergman’s book Trout. The Fly can be found on Plate Seven and at the back of the book the pattern that I used is listed.
Thanks for all that info Andy! I have heard of the suggestion that the Parmachene Belle was supposed to immitate a trout fin, which was a popular cut bait. However, I never quite figured out the resemblance myself, but I always think of the Bergman version (white wing, red strip down the middle). The Orvis style of wing, white with red top edge, is probably more representative of a trout fin. Certainly it’s more in line with the Trout Fin pattern, which is a reasonable immitation of a brook trout fin.
Regardless, here I fish the Parmachene Belle in size 12 and 14 on a floating line. I’ve found it works well fished in very clear water, usually on bright sunny days through mid-day and early afternoon. However, on my last trip out, the fish went quite after the sun went behind clounds and it became quite overcast. I switched from the softhackles and tied on a small P-Belle bucktail streamer (but tied with hackle fibres rather than bucktail hair) and that started producing fish again.
Generally, I’ve found it most effective once the line has drifted past me and is on the downstream drift, with the swing being the most potent time for it. But then, that’s often the case when fishing any winged wee wets. The soft hackles often are most productive on the drift, while the winged flies often more produtive on the swing.
Anyway, it’s been a great producer for me here. I don’t include the osterich herl but as that’s now how I’ve seen them until recently searching the web. I might tie a few up with that feature included as well.
